Fermentation of spent coffee grounds hydrolysate mediated by detoxification targeting the production of ethanol and organic acids and the recovery of aromatic compounds

• Grant number: 22/12942-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: May 01, 2023
• End date: April 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Giovana Tommaso
• Grantee: Maria Eduarda Simoes Dias
• Supervisor: Solange Ines Mussatto Dragone
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/07737-2 - Hydrothermal and chemical pre-treatments of wastes from the soluble coffee production coupled to metanogenesis, BP.DR

Abstract

Generating added-value products from lignocellulosic biomass wastes and agro-industrial residues through bio-conversion can assist in the present natural resource scarcity scenario. Considering that coffee ranks as the second most traded commodity globally, with oil being the first, among the lignocellulosic residues, those arising from coffee production require attention. The International Coffee Organization (ICO, 2019/20) gave the world's most recent number for coffee production, equal to 11 million tons. Considering that about 50-to-80% of the coffee cherry mass generates solid wastes, the coffee industry offers many renewable and promising biomass sources. Thereby, this proposal looks into the feasibility of using instant coffee processing solid residue to recover value-added compounds through fermentation of the spent coffee ground hydrolysate mediated by detoxification. The fermentation assays will be carried out by pure (Lactobacillus salivarius and Moorella thermoacetica) and an evolved strain (Kluyveromyces marxianus) focusing on the production of acetic acid, lactic acid, and ethanol from both detoxified and "raw" SCG hydrolysate as substrate. The work should also promote the recovery of phenolic compounds from the SCG hydrolysate during the detoxification step. Furthermore, a techno-economic assessment will accomplish the comparison between all studied routes for the SCG hydrolysate fermentation. (AU)